by Don Bullis
Max Atkins couldn‘t stay out of trouble with the law. Over the next three years, area law enforcement agencies charged him with offenses ranging from drunk and disorderly to attempted murder for shooting at tourist cars on the Old Road in the summer of 1970. Flossie bailed Max out every time. Then, on a fall day in 1972, Max quarreled with an old man named Gus Rainey over the disposition of a steer. Max lost the argument when Rainey pulled his pistol and pumped six bullets into the younger man before Max cleared the holster with his own gun. A jury in Los Lunas convicted Rainey of involuntary manslaughter. The court sentenced the old man to four years of unsupervised probation.
Flossie Rice married for a fourth time a few years later. She closed the Trading Post and, along with her last husband, opened a bar called the Long Branch Saloon near Los Cerritos on the Old Road, west of Budville. She died quietly in the spring of 1994, more than a quarter century after the murders of Bud Rice and Blanche Brown.
Jack Elkins served out his second term as sheriff and quit the law enforcement business in 1971. For many years he owned and operated the Correo Trading Post on New Mexico Route 6, near Wild Horse Mesa, between Los Lunas and Budville. On Saturday, November 7, 1992, his dead body was found in the trading post. He‘d been shot to death. His killer was never identified or prosecuted.
Charles Scarberry never became chief of the New Mexico State Police. The day his picture appeared in the Albuquerque Journal, Chief Sam Black summoned the deputy chief into his office.
―Charlie,‖ the chief said, ―State Police officers is held to a higher standard than other cops. This picture reflects real bad on the department. Now, as you know, the captain‘s job out in the Gallup District has been open for goin‘ on two years. The only way you can stop me from transferrin‘‘ you out there is if you go ahead and retire. You understand me, Charlie?‖
Scarberry nodded silently and left Black‘s office. His retirement became effective on April 1, 1969.
Martín Vigil became chief when Sam Black retired in the fall of 1969. His first official act was the transfer of Freddy Finch to uniformed services, Gallup District. Vigil also transferred Morris Candelaria to Santa Fe. Candelaria became chief in 1982.
J. B. ―Doc‖ Spurlock went home to Roswell in March, 1969, and salvaged his marriage. Chaves County Sheriff Tom Lord hired him as chief investigator. Doc later served two terms as sheriff of Chaves County and two terms as undersheriff, before he retired to the family ranch on Eagle Creek. Doc‘s son—named Josiah after his great grandfather—became the first Spurlock in four generations to avoid law enforcement service altogether. Doc and Patsy celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in the summer of 1997.
John Cook received two payments of $250.00 each for his work on the Billy Ray White case. Cook had a heart attack and died unexpectedly in 1973.
Parker Pratt received a letter postmarked March 16, 1969, from the Jefferson Parish Prison, Gretna, LA.
Dear Mr. Pratt.
Just a few lines to let you know where I‘m at and to express my thanks again for everything. La. came to Albuquerque and got me by plane last Thursday night. I was taken before a magistrate the next morning and my bond was set at $15,000 for one count of armed robbery. I haven‘t heard anything about the other charges and haven‘t asked. They are supposed to appoint me an attorney next Friday. These people say they have a very tight case against me, but you know how that goes, I don‘t see how they could, being that I‘m innocent, but these people are as bad as N. M. about railroading— anyway I‘m working on making bond and if no other states file on me I should be out within the next couple of weeks. If I do it won‘t be long before I‘ll be back on my feet. I‘m sure you have heard this same statement before, and it probably sounds a little phony, but as soon as I‘m in a position I intend to slap some bread on you, because I couldn‘t forget the wonderful job you did defending me. I don‘t forget people who treat me like a human being and I‘ll take care of you when I‘m able.
Well I‘ll make it short I just wanted to let you know my whereabouts and the happenings on this end. Let me know any new‘s you happen run across on that savings and loan robbery charge back there.
Your Friend
Billy Ray White
P. S. By the way if its not to much trouble how about
seeing if you can get the New‘s clipping covering my trial especially the March 7th story of the verdict, and send it to me when you can.
At mid-November, 1970, Parker Pratt received the following:
Dear Mr. Pratt,
When I was extradited from New Mexico to Louisiana in March of 1969 following my acquittal on the murder charges, there was still an armed robbery charge pending. Would you please inquire discreetly as to whether the charge is still pending.
Should the charge still be open, what is the possibility of New Mexico extraditing me to try me on it? Has New Mexico lost jurisdiction? It appears to me that that is the case since they could have tried me on that charge while I was in their jurisdiction.
Any information from a discreet inquiry will be greatly appreciated. This is rather important to me.
Respectfully yours,
Billy Ray White
Louisiana State Prison
Angola, Louisiana 70712
PS Incidentally, I have by no means forgotten the
splendid job you did defending me. I have every intention of showing my appreciation as soon as I am able which I‘m hopeful will be in the near future.
Pratt responded:
Dear Billy Ray:
As best I could determine, the charge against you here in New Mexico is, in fact, still pending. However, I feel that the chance of New Mexico extraditing you is extremely slim. As you have already guessed, there might be some serious legal question as to whether they could extradite you after having had you in their grasp and allowing you to go to Louisiana. I will do a little more checking after the first of the year to determine if, in fact, the charge is still pending or if it has been dismissed.
Incidentally, I have been elected District Judge and will take office January 1, making it a little easier for me to determine this.
I hope everything is going well for you and that you will soon complete whatever sentence you are serving in Louisiana.
Very truly yours,
Parker Pratt
Billy Ray White is the only man to have been placed on the FBI‘s Ten Most Wanted list and subsequently acquitted of the crime which put him there in the first place. But acquittal didn‘t mean freedom. In the fall of 1969, Billy Ray was convicted of armed robbery for the Gretna jewelry store job. He received a twelve year sentence in the state prison at Angola, Louisiana. He didn‘t exactly conform but he‘d matured enough to stay out of trouble and earn good time at a rate of two days for each one day served. On June 9, 1974, eight months from his probable release date, guards found Billy Ray White in his cell with both wrists slashed, bled out and dead. The official report showed the death as suicide. The convict in the next cell supported the suicide theory and claimed that Billy Ray confessed to killing Bud Rice and Blanche Brown before he died. Many of the details the convict provided to prove his account were completely wrong; the kind of mistakes Billy Ray would not have made in telling the story.
Parker Pratt never believed that Billy Ray killed himself. The lawyer also never convinced himself that Billy Ray White was innocent, or guilty, of shooting and killing Bud Rice and Blanche Brown. ―Some days,‖ Judge Pratt said in 1993, ―I‘m convinced that Billy Ray was innocent of the crime, and other days I‘m equally convinced that he was guilty as sin. Of all the clients I‘ve represented in a long career, Billy Ray is the only one who‘s guilt, or innocence, I was not sure of.‖
Parker Pratt served two terms as District Court Judge before he was elected to the New Mexico Supreme Court. He returned to private practice for a few years before he retired and went on a Mormon mission to the Easter Islands in 1994.
Clarence Mumfee continued to wreck out cars in Budville
through the summer of 1968 and then he returned to St. Johns for the winter. He told Flossie he‘d like to return in the spring to finish up, and she agreed. Not long after the acquittal of Billy Ray White, in late March, 1969, Clarence resumed his work. Abruptly, one day in mid-May, he parked his old pink International pickup between the gas pumps and the trading post and he went inside. He found Flossie behind the counter.
―Miz Rice, I‘m done wreckin‘ out cars fer ya.‖ He put two twenties and one ten dollar bill on the counter. ―This here‘ll settle us up on the last load o‘ scrap I hauled to Albuquerque. You can sell off the rest of what‘s out there and keep it all for yourself. I‘m done doin‘ all I‘m gonna do.‖
―I thought we had a deal, that you‘d finish....‖
―Deal‘s over with, Miz Rice. I‘m done.‖ He nodded his head ever so slightly and left.
Flossie walked out to the wrecking yard. Clarence‘s old utility trailer stood near where it always had, half full of scrap body and engine parts. One automobile, a light blue Chevrolet with front-end damage, had been pulled out and away from the rest. Its doors were missing and the back seat had been removed. The dashboard had been pulled lose and rested, with wires still attached, on the front seat. It was as if Clarence had just stopped half way in dismantling the car. Flossie stepped into Blanche Brown‘s little house and was surprised to find all of Mumfee‘s belongings still there, from extra clothing to shaving gear. She never saw Clarence again.
A month later Flossie heard from Francis Cardiff that Mumfee returned to St. Johns only long enough to pay off what few bills he had and to put his house and two acres up for sale. Along with his daughter and granddaughter, he left town and no one had seen him since. Some years later, word drifted back to St. Johns that Clarence took up residence in southern California. He is believed to have died there in the late 1980s. His granddaughter did well in moving pictures.
Joe Peters returned to federal prison in 1971 on drug trafficking charges. Released in 1978, he dropped from sight and was never heard from again.
Joe Cato died of complications resulting from AIDS in 1993.
Dave Sipe‘s mother made up her mind. She waited up for Dave on the Thursday night after Billy Ray was acquitted, but the younger Sipe didn‘t appear. Nor did he come home on Friday, or Friday night. Dave had started drinking on Wednesday evening with Joe Cato and Joe Peters at the old Liberty Bar. They toasted each other‘s supreme coolness in dealing with both Wilcoxson and Pratt in court. They figured they‘d won in the deal, and that was confirmed when the jury came in the next evening. They continued the party, only sorry that the guest of honor couldn‘t be present. Billy Ray remained in jail awaiting extradition to Louisiana. When the bars closed Thursday night—actually at 2:00 a.m. Friday morning—they moved the whoopde-do to Peters‘ room at the Anasazi Motel on east Central Avenue. Cato went home to his wife when the whores showed up on Friday afternoon. Joe Peters took stock of himself on Saturday morning. He found a ten and two ones in his wallet, along with a one way bus ticket to Los Angeles. Dave Sipe was flat broke but had a little gas in his car. He took Peters to the bus station and went home.
Sipe‘s mother sat in a rocking chair on the porch beside a full duffel bag and two cardboard boxes. She told her son to take himself, bag and boxes, away.
―When you grow up, David, when you become a man, a law abiding man, you may come back. I can‘t stand living with a criminal. All the locks have been changed, and if you don‘t get that junk pickup out of the garage by tomorrow, I‘ll have it hauled away.‖
Dave loaded his car and left. His mother‘s behavior, and her comment, puzzled him. He thought himself a for-real macho man. One of the whores had said so just the night before. He drove to Frenchy LaCroix‘s auto salvage yard and sold his old Ford truck as scrap for a hundred dollars, with the proviso that Frenchy go get it. LaCroix gave him a form to complete; a form the Department of Motor Vehicles required when motor vehicles were sold as salvage. Sipe filled out the row of boxes along the top of the form this way:
46 F PU BY NL.
(1946 Ford pickup, black & yellow. No license.)
About the Author
Don Bullis retired in 2002 after a career in New Mexico law enforcement that included stints as county sheriff‘s deputy and detective sergeant, town marshal, state organized crime commissioner, and criminal intelligence operational supervisor. He was a small-town newspaper editor before he entered law enforcement. He lives in Rio Rancho, NM with his wife, Gloria.
Other Books By Don Bullis
Don Bullis is the author of New Mexico’s Finest: Peace Officers Killed in the Line of Duty (New Mexico Department of Public Safety, 1990), which details the circumstances surrounding the on-duty deaths of 160 New Mexico peace officers. The Third Edition was published in 1999. He also wrote The Old West Trivia Book (Gem Guide Books, 1993), which details many little known facts about the American West. It went into its second printing in 1998. He currently writes a weekly newspaper column on the history of New Mexico and the Southwest called ―Ellos Pasaron Por Aquí.‖
Books by Don Bullis
Bloodville Regular size print edition. Fictional adaptation of the Budville, NM murders by New Mexico crime historian, Don Bullis. ( 2002) $14.955½X8¼, 200 pp, $14.95 MacroPrintBooks™ edition ISBN 1-888725-76-1, 16 pt, $24.95 Ellos Pasaron Por Aqui (They Passed by Here): 99 New Mexicans...And Then a Few-- Don Bullis (2005) New Mexico crime historian, Don Bullis, relates short glimpses of characters who made the West--Particularly New Mexico. 6½ X 8¼, 350 pp ISBN: 1-888725-92-3 $16.95 MacroPrintBooks™ edition (2003) 16 pt. 8¼X11 460pp ISBN: 1-888725-93-1 $24.95 Item Each Quantity Amount
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Table of Contents
BOOK ONE CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER IX
BOOK TWO CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER X
CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XIII
CHAPTER XIV
BOOK THREE CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER X
CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XIII
CHAPTER XIV
BOOK FOUR CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV